A South African tourist was rescued after losing his way at a waterfall in southern Thailand.

Dean Witting, 27, was taking an evening swim when he reportedly wandered away from his Thai wife at the Wang Mai Pak Waterfall on November 13.

The panicked woman, fearing he had drowned in the beauty spot in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, called rescue teams for help.

Footage shows divers and rescue volunteers scouring the waterfall and nearby streams for signs of the missing holidaymaker.

But they were shocked when he arrived at the rescue command centre near the base of the mountain at around 10:30 pm local time, exhausted but unharmed.

The holidaymaker said he had stumbled around 100 metres (330 feet) through the rough terrain in the darkness before finding a villager's house in the mountains where he sought help.

Surrounded by rescue officers, a bewildered Dean recounted: ‘I was lost, I did not know where I was.

‘I walked back down and found a pathway and just followed the pathway. And then I got up there, way up there in the mountain. And then I sat down there to rest, got a little of my frustrations out, and then I walked back down.

'Yes, I was lost for a tiny bit. I did not know where I was, for a tiny bit.'

Waterfall drownings are a recurring danger in Thailand, with limited safety personnel and strong currents during the country's monsoon season.

Just last month, schoolgirl Prapassorn Thamnam, 15, drowned after being swept away by strong currents at Sai Khu Waterfall in Prachuap Khiri Khan while swimming with friends.

Officials said there were more than 100 tourists playing in the waterfall at the time, but only two officers were assigned to monitor safety regulations.